Rich Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Pomegranate Mascarpone Cream

Um, hi. I have been a bit MIA lately because the last week has been a complete whirlwind. I wrapped up the last week of my graduate program, defended my master’s thesis, and gave my final presentation on Friday. I’m done! Wrapping up my master’s degree has been quite bittersweet. I felt relief after my last presentation but I also had a complete breakdown after my defense. I have been working in the same research lab for almost five years and have been in school since…forever. I actually really enjoy school but I felt like it was time for me to step back and see if doing school for another four years to get a PhD is really what I want. To be honest, I am quite scared about what I’m going to do next. I don’t have anything too concretely planned but I’m excited to see what opportunities are out there. 

I have been putting off publishing this post because it was the first set of blog photos I took with my dad’s tripod and the remote self-timer on my phone, sans Victor. Wow – it is so dang hard taking photos of yourself layering a cake. It took me forever to get use to positioning myself a certain way so it does not look like I’m a giant making a baby cake. I also had to get use to not leaning my body over the cake too much or else the cake gets engulfed in weird shadows. Also, why did I choose to wear this dress to decorate a cake? These photos make it look like I had to decorate a cake before I needed to run off to attend my high school prom. *Eye roll at self*

I made a very similar cake for my friend a few months back. She asked me to make a cake for her daughter’s birthday and only asked for it to be woodland themed. I made this cake for her daughter and it was topped with roses, pink pearls, and deer cake toppers. I knew she did not want any type of food colouring in her cake so the mascarpone cream was coloured by pomegranate juice and all-natural raspberry jam. Her family really enjoyed the cake so I wanted to share the recipe with her family and you!

I actually intended to post this recipe up before the lemon zucchini cake recipe but was being too self conscious about the photos to actually hit the publish button. Maybe one day I’ll get over this photo anxiety, but until then, here’s the recipe for a rich chocolate cake with raspberry pomegranate mascarpone cream with a side of classic Amy anxiety.

Rich Chocolate Cake with Raspberry Pomegranate Mascarpone Cream

Makes 1 Four-layer 6-inch cake

By Amy

Ingredients

Rich Chocolate Cake

• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoon cocoa
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups cold coffee
• 1/2 cup oil
• 2 teaspoon vinegar

Whipped Raspberry Pomegranate Mascarpone Cream

• 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 275 g mascarpone cheese
• 3 – 4 tablespoons your favourite raspberry jam
• Juice of half a pomegranate fruit, strained

Instructions

Rich Chocolate Cake

• Preheat oven to 350F and grease four cake pans.
• In a large bowl, whisk to combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
• Add the remainder of the ingredients to this dry mixture and mix until fully incorporated. Since this is a oil-based chocolate cake, your batter will be thinner. Don’t worry! It’s normal!
• Divide the mixture evenly among the four prepared cake pans and bake for 35-37 minutes. I found that a chocolate cake is much harder to test for doneness with a toothpick or skewer since the chocolate cake can stain your skewer brown. You can test for doneness by gently pressing your finger on the cake – it should spring back up. Let the cake layers cool completely before layering.

Raspberry Pomegranate Mascarpone Cream

• Pour whipping cream into bowl of standing mixer. With the whisk attachment whisk the whipping cream until it becomes fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer whipped cream into a different bowl.
• With a paddle attachment on your mixer, beat mascarpone until light and fluffy. Gradually add in three tablespoons of raspberry jam and pomegranate juice and beat for 3 – 5 minutes. In the same bowl, gently fold in the whipped cream. You can add more jam if you feel the cream needs more sweetness. Pomegranate juice is a great way to add more colour to your cream as well.